The Benefits of Lead Magnets for Your Business
Lead magnets, such as informative content downloads or free demos or trials, can be a great way to put your company’s lead generation on auto-pilot. Although lead magnets take some time to create, they’re well worth it in the long run. If done correctly, lead magnets can serve as a consistent driver of new leads to your business.
Tips for Creating a Quality Lead Magnet
The most important factor to keep in mind when considering what kind of lead magnet to create is to make sure it’s valuable to your target customer. Thoroughly answer a common, burning question customers have or offer a free incentive to help a company jumpstart a solution to its problem. Not only does providing something worthwhile to prospective customers showcase your thought leadership on the subject matter, but it also pinpoints the lead’s precise need or challenge, thus getting your initial conversation started in the right direction.
Lead magnets come in many forms and may include:
- Research reports
- eBooks or white papers
- Webinars
- Live interactions
- DIY templates
- Vendor or product comparisons
- Case studies
- Trial downloads
- Live demonstrations
Make sure the lead magnet is:
- Valuable
- Evergreen (not time-sensitive)
- Related to your business’ service or product offering
- Written clearly, easy to understand
- Designed well
How to Promote a Lead Magnet
Creating a quality lead magnet is just the first step. You must take proactive steps to promote it and lure prospects in. There are many different ways to promote a lead magnet, including:
1. On Your Website
The places to promote a lead magnet on your website are endless. At the very least, you will want to create a dedicated, optimized landing page with a lead capture form on it. The lead capture form is a basic email sign-up form your customer must complete in order to access the lead magnet. It may be synced with a third-party sales or email marketing CRM to track and qualify inbound leads. This landing page will serve as your “home base” where all future lead magnet marketing activities will be driven. Use search engine optimization and relevant blog posts to rank the landing page for specific target keywords on search engines.
You may also consider adding a lead magnet email capture form on:
- Relevant blog posts
- In your site’s header or footer
- In the sidebar of a blog page
- On a tools/resources page
- As a pop-up on relevant service pages
2. Via Social Media
Social media is an easy way to promote your lead magnet beyond your website. In addition to announcing the launch of your lead magnet in a post, consider teasing your social followers with excerpts from your lead magnet on a regular basis. The key is not to give away all of your secrets but to entice followers and fans to visit your landing page to download the rest. To supplement these posts, consider creating custom quote or tip graphics using an easy-to-use design tool like Canva and dedicate one day of the week, such as #tiptuesday, #wisdomwednesday, or #freebiefriday, to post these excerpts. In addition to posting regularly on your social networks, consider promoting your lead magnet elsewhere on social media profiles, including:
- Through custom-designed social media cover art
- Through social media ads
- Post a link to your landing page on social profile bios or as call-to-action buttons
- Ask partners to share or cross-promote your social posts on their profiles
- Utilize social media video content, like Facebook Live or Instagram Stories
- Post in user groups
3. On Third Party Sites
To reach an even wider audience outside of your direct network, contact relevant industry publications, membership organizations or influencers to help promote your lead magnet on their websites, email campaigns and social media channels. Make it easy for these third party sites to promote your lead magnet by crafting a pre-written press release, guest blog post, sample social media posts, or email campaign content they can use freely. Here are a few places to consider reaching out for cross-promotion:
- Relevant industry publications
- Blog influencers
- Membership organizations
- Business directories
- Related businesses, partners or vendors
4. Through Direct Emails
The idea behind lead magnets is to generate new leads, not necessarily provide freebie content to existing email subscribers and contacts. That being said, providing something of value to your existing contacts can re-engage an old client or open up more opportunities to reach new clients. Here are a few tips to promoting lead magnets through email:
- Identify a fresh target list of contacts, and reach out to them directly with your lead magnet offer
- Ask existing contacts to share your promotional lead magnet email campaign to others who may find it useful
- Ask industry partners to share your lead magnet promotion with their network
5. In Your Email Signature
An easy, “set it and forget it” way to reach hundreds of contacts each month passively is to promote your lead magnet in your email signature. Although many of your day-to-day correspondents may be existing clients of yours, you may learn about a new challenge they’re having (and thus be presented with an up-selling opportunity), convert warm leads, or even reach new audiences in your network. Simply add a call-to-action beneath your email signature with a link to your lead magnet landing page or sign-up page.
6. On Groups and Forums
Find relevant discussions on online groups and forums that address the challenge your lead magnet answers. Share a valuable tip from your lead magnet that answers the initial query on the forum and link back to your landing page for more information. A few tips when posting responses on groups or forum discussions:
- Follow the rules and guidelines of the forum or group
- Make sure your response directly answers the question in the discussion thread
- Do not post overly self-promotional content
- Become a regular contributor to forums in your area of expertise to gain trust
7. In a Podcast or Webinar
Whether in your own podcast or webinar or in one you’ve been asked to participate in, don’t forget to mention your lead magnet in the discussion! Tease a few tips or read excerpts from your lead magnet and make it clear where listeners can go to get more information. Here are a few tips when promoting your lead magnet on a podcast or webinar:
- Don’t give away all the secrets in your lead magnet! Just give them a taste of the insight they can expect to get out of the lead magnet to entice them to learn more
- Make sure the lead magnet is relevant to the podcast or webinar topic at hand
- Add a link to your landing page in the podcast or webinar description
8. In Search Network & Display Ads
Promoting a free lead magnet using paid search network and display ads, such as Google AdWords or Bing Ads, can help your landing page reach an even wider targeted audience. Adding a lead magnet as another call-to-action (CTA) on an existing ad may help your ad stand out from the rest. A few tips if you plan to use Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising to promote your lead magnet:
- Identify the lifetime value of one lead magnet lead to identify the cost-benefit of using PPC ads to promote your lead magnet.
- PPC advertising may not be the right method to promote all lead magnets! There may be a more direct route to making a sale, such as asking someone to call or complete a form for immediate assistance with their challenge, in which case, most of your ads should be dedicated to that effort.
- Always A/B test ads to measure ad efficiency
9. Slideshare or Infographics
Create an infographic or slideshow presentation that provides a brief, visual outline of your lead magnet. A few tips to creating and sharing slideshows and infographics for maximum exposure.
- Not a graphic designer? That’s okay! Utilize an easy, DIY program like Piktochart or Canva to get the job done.
- Upload infographics to social networks, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook
- Tag your infographic appropriately for search engines to index it in image searches
- Submit your infographic to third party sites like Visual.ly, Fast Company, or others.
- Upload your slideshow presentation to Slideshare to increase exposure
10. Tradeshows & Live Events
Tradeshows and live events present a great opportunity to promote your lead magnet live and in-person. Here are a few different ways to do so:
- If you are a speaker, pitch your lead magnet as a closing call-to-action or ask people to sign up to receive it.
- Bring marketing materials that promote your lead magnet to have at a booth or to hand out to prospects.
- Consider adding a lead magnet download call-to-action on your business card.
Lead magnets can be alluring to attract prospective clients into your sales funnel. Need help creating and promoting your lead magnet? Contact us, and we’d be happy to help!
